AAARGH!!! Where to get adjustable rear upper control arms?

[Armitage]

So the story goes like this... In the spring I took my car to get an alignment. The shop, while trying to break the rear upper control arm bolts free, managed to break one of the welds that holds that little oval retainer ring for the eccentric bolt. Okay so that pissed me off, it's a big project to fix and they basically told me "sorry, come back when it's fixed".

So I got a whole replacement rear subframe. Into I put all new poly bushings, a new 4 bolt diff, new ball joints, etc. Over the course of a month or two I got it all set up and put it back together. Every single bolt antisiezed and torqued correctly.

I took it to a different, more tuner oriented shop today to get it aligned. Guess what, I don't know how, because none of the bolts were stuck, but they managed to break one of the welds that holds that little oval retainer ring for the eccentric bolt!!!

Now my 3rd rear subframe is boned. I'm really getting sick of this. I didn't just put in months of labor lying on my back under the dirty car in 90 degree heat to have another shop break it. Are these things really that prone to failure? This time I'm thinking I'm just going to get the ring tack welded back on and call it good. It's a really terrible design IMHO. But since my camber is completely messed up in the rear now (like -4 degrees).. It's probably a good time to get rid of that awful eccentric bolt design and get some real adjustable arms.

So, does anyone make/sell them? I see something like what I'm looking for in this picture from the rear subframe bushing thread:

How do you guys who run these deal with the slotted bolt hole on the subframe mounting tab? Do you weld a washer in there or something? I can't really use the stock eccentric bolt anymore because it can slide all around with the broken ring.

Thanks!

 

[Polish]

You mean like the Adjustable Rear Arms made by Andre @ Pina which are posted in the for sale section right now?

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click

 

[Armitage]

Heh, nice. Those look pretty sweet. I'm concerned though that they rely on the factory eccentric bolt. Because the bolt hole is slotted, it really relies on that little frail ring with 2 tack welds to hold everything in place. Since mine's busted I'm going to need a better solution. Perhaps welding some washers in place to fix the slotted hole. I don't know, I'm open to ideas.

 

[jepherz]

I believe andre said he does weld washers in place.

 

[atc250r]

I've done alignments on tons of cars (including DSM's and GVR4's) and never had the ring break off. With all the urethane bushings back there you probably don't need adjustable arms, just a competent alignment shop. I don't see why you couldn't just have the ring tacked back on.

John

 

[grocery_getter]

That was Chris Mclean's rear subframe picture. He got the adjustable rear camber arm assembly from me.

 

[JNR]

Quoting atc250r:
I've done alignments on tons of cars (including DSM's and GVR4's) and never had the ring break off. With all the urethane bushings back there you probably don't need adjustable arms, just a competent alignment shop. I don't see why you couldn't just have the ring tacked back on.

John



What if you're lowered in back? That's my problem; too much negative camber, esp on driver's side! I bought some ingalls, but damn would love a pair of these.

 

[Armitage]

Quoting atc250r:
I've done alignments on tons of cars (including DSM's and GVR4's) and never had the ring break off. With all the urethane bushings back there you probably don't need adjustable arms, just a competent alignment shop. I don't see why you couldn't just have the ring tacked back on.

John



Yea, I find it odd too that two completely different respectable shops have broken the ring on two otherwise undamaged rear subframes in the span of a few months. I guess for now I'll ask my roommate to weld it up for me but I was hoping there was a better long-term solution to eliminate the dependency on those rings altogether. That whole mounting bracket is pretty fragile and bends easily under any kind of stress. I learned that on my 1st and 2nd rear subframes. My 3rd is now broken and damned if I'm going to replace it AGAIN.

 

[Armitage]

Quoting grocery_getter:
That was Chris Mclean's rear subframe picture. He got the adjustable rear camber arm assembly from me.



That's a nice looking piece, but I understand it relies on the eccentric ring to be intact to work properly, right? Any workarounds for that?

 

[grocery_getter]

Use the rear 'CAMBER' arm to make the camber adjustment. Its in the name.

 

[JNR]

So, the adjustable uses 'regular' bolts then? I misunderstod what the post was about, I guess; was saying that I didn't think you could get enough adjustment with oem cambolts/stock arms and why I'm going adjustable...Would make sense to use regular bolts on the adjustable, as you use the threads of the CA to change the angle and cambolts seems to 'strip' easily and are a PITA...

I don't have a pic handy, but when I went adjustable arms on my ZJ, I made some aluminum 'washers' that would keep the bolt centered/captive so to speak, and sat in-between two plates that were on the axle (so it wouldn't spin)...I don't like to weld or permanently change things on my car if possible, in case I change back to stock (which I did in that case) and hence the 'washers'...I'm sure something similar could be done here, if it has a similar problem [without looking at it, I don't know]

 

[KT]

3SX Control Arms

I put these on #65 and they are the same length as the DSM/VR-4.

They will correct camber for as low as you can get the car, I promise.